Lemony Zest :: Kim Lewandowski

Archive for December, 2007

Bardo is another favorite. It’s an Asian-inspired tapas place, so we get to have lots of little nibbles there. Great food. Here’s what Liz and I had a week or two ago:

• Buddha buns – ground pork and veggies steamed in won ton skins, with a soy -based dipping sauce
• Panko-crusted fried shrimp with sweet chili sauce
• Crab rangoon – fried won ton skins with a filling of what seemed like crab and cream cheese. Not one of my favorites, but something I’ve wanted to try.
• Edamame – soybeans steamed and sprinkled with sea salt.
• Chicken satay (Thai chicken grilled on a stick) with three sauces.
• Doughnut “dip sum” – three fried doughnuts with three dipping sauces – chocolate, peanut butter, and (if I remember right) raspberry. Dee-lish!

Rajput is a very good Indian restaurant on 21st Street in the Ghent section of Norfolk. Four of us went there recently. We all enjoy Indian food, but we’re not very familiar with the flavors, so we each ordered something different and tried each other’s entrees. So now I know I like chicken biryani better than chicken vindaloo

• Kim – chicken vindaloo – okay
• Susan – chicken tikka masala – better than vindaloo, not as good as biryani
• Barbara – chicken biryani – very good. It contained nuts and raisins and came with raita, a cucumber/yogurt sauce
• Liz – chicken jalfrezi – okay. Interesting – I couldn’t find this recipe on the Indian food site I linked to for the other three; the one I did find says it’s a Pakistani recipe.

All the entrees were served with basmati rice, and we ordered two kinds of naan bread – one plain and one garlic-flavored. Both were quite good. Another note: We all ordered our meals with medium heat, which I found to be rather mild. So I will order it medium-hot next time and see how that tastes.

It’s time to catch up on a few Tuesday dinners out that I’ve missed writing about. Since we decided to just go to some favorite places, rather than following the alphabet, we’ve had some really good meals lately, since, well, we’re going to some favorite places

Some time back, Barbara and I went to Bodega on Granby in Norfolk. Here’s what we had:

• Heart of palm salad with romaine, tomatoes, and white truffle vinaigrette – very good
• Sliced baguette with a sweet compound butter
• Tempura-fried chicken – light and delicious
• Crab and spinach gnocchi – wonderful. This was gnocchi with spinach and lump blue crab in a creamy Alfredo-style sauce. Yum
• Warm mini-chocolate cake with vanilla gelato and strawberry compote – this was a lava-type cake with a molten center, served with the gelato on the side and the compote on the top – fabulous

We would definitely recommend Bodega. It’s one of our faves.

The painting is done and the rest of the trim is installed. Now we just need some finishing touches – outlet covers, window treatments, new stools, and some cookware. I’m still using stuff I got for wedding presents over 20 years ago. It’s okay, but hey – everything has its season, and the season for these is past.

And here’s a close-up of the granite countertop. I’m told by a friend who teaches geology that the red spots are garnet. Cool – semi-precious stones in my countertop!

Our kitchen renovation went great over the summer; then it tapered off, with Dan’s shoulder surgery and other things taking up time. But here we are again, getting the last things done.

My good friend Liz is married to Walter, who owns and operates a custom painting business, and he’s now engaged in painting our kitchen. I came home from work yesterday to this:

What do you think? Too bright? Too orange? Just right? Let me know in the comments.

I’ve been keeping up with Slashfood lately, a food blog at AOL. Today they mentioned that today is “National Repeal Day,” the anniversary of the repeal of the 18th Amendment, which prohibited the manufacture, transportation and sale of alcohol. Let’s hear it for National Repeal Day! Cheers!